Exhibition Calendar

Artist Entry Deadline (must be completed through our online form): Jan 23, 2027

Acceptance Email Deadline: February 3

Artwork Delivery Window: February 4 - 24

Opening Night Reception: Saturday, March 13

Exhibition Dates: March 13 - April 24

Artwork Pick-up/Return Shipping Window: April 26 - May 8

Eligibility

This Show is only open to artists who hold Signature Membership status in one or more U.S. watercolor/water media societies or associations.

• Entries must be original, created entirely by the artist, and not derived from any published images. All reference material must be captured by the artist and should not be copyrighted or published.

• Paintings must be water-based media (watercolor, acrylic, gouache, casein, or tempera) on paper, synthetic paper, paperboard, wrapped canvas, or cradled wood panel. Yupo and Tyvek are acceptable.

• No water-soluble oils are allowed. Other non-water-based media may be integrated but cover no more than 20% of the painting.

• No digital art, AI-generated art, workshop/class art, photography, prints, or reproductions will be accepted.

• Paintings altered in any way after entry is submitted will be disqualified.

• Entries must be recent works completed within the last two years, entirely the work of the artist, and not shown previously in a Fallbrook Art Center exhibition.

• All paintings must be available for sale. 

• Once entered, the selling price cannot be altered.

Curator’s Biography

Helen Shafer Garcia (SDWS) is a Southern California painter (watercolor and book arts), ceramicist, and award-winning illustrator. For more than 40 years, Helen’s watercolor illustrations have graced the covers of brochures, garden articles, and advertisements for a number of international resorts and magazines. Her awards include four San Diego Press Club First Place Awards of Excellence in Illustration for San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine. Her works have been featured in Southwest galleries and regional exhibitions at Oceanside Museum of Art, San Diego Watercolor Society, and Fallbrook Art Center. Helen holds a B.A. degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in illustration and ceramics. She is a signature member of the San Diego Watercolor Society and has taught college-level watercolor, book arts, and mixed-media workshops internationally and across the US. International locations have included New Zealand, France, Mexico, and Canada. She is also the department head of painting, drawing, and fiber arts at Fallbrook School of the Arts. Her curatorial roles include The Southwest Exhibition 2025 and the Signature Watercolor Exhibition 2026 at Fallbrook Art Center, CA.

Curator’s Statement

Fallbrook Art Center established the nation’s only signature-status watermedia exhibition seventeen years ago. To qualify, participating artists must have achieved signature membership through at least three juried acceptances in open watermedia exhibitions across the United States. Each work entered is juried anew for acceptance each year. The paintings in this exhibition reflect contemporary, innovative approaches to watermedia. While centered on water-based media, entries may incorporate up to 20% dry media. Artists working at this distinguished level continue to evolve their practice through experimentation—embracing new techniques, compelling themes, and both subtle and approachable symbolism. These works offer a window into each artist’s personal direction and style, which for the viewer can be magical. Look at each painting closely: Does the artist’s work reveal energy, narrative, discord, harmony, or technical brilliance? What makes it memorable? These qualities will guide you to your own emotional impression.

With all of this in mind, enter and enjoy each painting on its own merit and composition.

Helen Shafer Garcia

Curator

About the Juror

Liz Walker (NWS) is acrylic/marbling painter who tells stories with paint. In her Portland Oregon home studio she produces hundreds of acrylic and watercolor paintings each year. Liz refers to her process as “pulling secrets out of paper” because she creates from her imagination rather than from photographs. After graduating with a BA in Art from Trinity University in San Antonio, Liz worked as a technical writer in the computer industry for 10 years. Dissatisfied with her career, she took a weekend watercolor workshop in 1991 and has been painting ever since. Although she painted exclusively in watercolors for over a decade, 20 years ago Liz switched to using acrylics, collage, and marbling to create her imaginative works. He paintings are consistently juried into national exhibits, including the National Watercolor Society where she is a Signature member. No matter what the medium, Liz’s favorite subject matter is stylized figures (mostly women) painted with bright colors and patterns, but she also enjoys painting birds, florals, and abstracts. Her paintings invite people to look for the story in her work—and interpret her paintings according to their own point of view. Liz’s work appears in several North Light publications including Artist’s Magazine and AcrylicWorks book series. Liz teaches water media classes throughout the West coast—both in person and via ZOOM. She is a Signature Member of 8 national art organizations and is active in her local Portland art community via the Watercolor Society of Oregon. 

Art in Bloom 

A selection of accepted paintings will be paired with original floral arrangements designed in response to the work. Becky Rice of Pink Poppy Florals curates the arrangements and selects the pairings from the accepted works, in consultation with the watermedia curator. Not every painting will be paired, and pairing is not an award or a ranking. Consent is optional and does not affect jury consideration. Paintings paired with an arrangement remain hung and for sale exactly as all other works in the exhibition. Because the arrangements are perishable, they are offered for sale by auction during the exhibition and collected on the day of the sale. The auction covers the floral arrangements only. Your painting is not part of the auction and is sold on the standard consignment terms set out below. Auction dates will be confirmed with accepted artists ahead of the opening.

Size Limits

Minimum Image: 140 square inches, no side less than 10”

Maximum outside frame: 44” x 44” 

Framing requirements

Paintings that do not align with these standards will be disqualified.

Unframed painting standards

• Unsealed paintings on paper must be framed and matted, protected under rigid acrylic, ready for hanging, and separated from the acrylic by mats or spacers. Non-glare acrylic is not acceptable.

• Paintings on paper not protected by acrylic must be suitably sealed.

• Paintings on stretched canvas or cradled wooden panels must be between 1 3/8 and 2 inches in depth.

• Paintings on stretched canvas or cradled wooden panels may be framed in simple wood or metal or be unframed with edges painted as a continuation of the painting or in black, gray, or white.

Framed painting standards

• Simple sturdy (not carved, ornate or embellished) metal or wood frames of a single color only.

• Frame width cannot exceed 1.5 inches.

• Use D rings to attach wire - no eye hooks.

• Use multi-strand wire, looped through D rings with ends twisted and securely attached.

• Paintings must be protected under sturdy acrylics, such as Plexiglas. No glass is permitted.

Matting Standards

• Mats must be clean, white, off-white, gray or black. Colored liner mats are acceptable.

• Paintings may be floated with spacers

Fallbrook Art Center reserves the right to withhold any work from display, including unsuitably presented, or misrepresented work.

Sales

Paintings must be for sale. Exhibited works will be consigned for sale at the price submitted on the entry form. Fallbrook Art Center will handle all sales, collection, reporting, and payment of applicable sales tax. Artists are responsible for all tax reporting.

Commission on Sales

For exhibitions beginning on January 1, 2027, artists receive 55% of the retail price of each work sold. Fallbrook Art Center retains 45%, which supports our exhibitions and programs. 

Payment to the Artist

Artist payments are issued monthly. Payment for each month's sales is mailed by check by the end of the first week of the following month.

Pricing 

Artists set their own prices, and work at every price point is welcome. For reference, works priced at $2,000 or less tend to sell best in our gallery, so you may wish to include a range of prices among your entries. Please set your prices with the commission in mind. 

Insurance

We handle every work with care. Artists are responsible for insuring their own work and for substantiating its stated value. 

Use Rights

By submitting your artist entry form, artists whose submissions are chosen for the Show grant Fallbrook Art Center the right to use their images for the purpose of marketing the show. Artists grant the use of their image(s) as stated without further contact or compensation. We reserve the right to photograph work for publicity purposes.

Shipping

Fallbrook Art Center

103 S Main Ave

Fallbrook, CA 92028

• Accepted artists will receive specific delivery instructions.

• Inbound and outbound shipping costs and insurance are the responsibility of the artist.

• Please package your work to ensure it won’t be damaged during shipment.

• Fallbrook Art Center is not responsible for any damage incurred during shipping.

• A prepaid return label is required for all shipped paintings. Unsold paintings will be shipped back to the artist at the end of the exhibition.

Any shipped painting without a prepaid return label will be subject to a $50 administrative handling fee on top of the shipping fee.

How to submit an entry

• All entries must be submitted through our online form.

• You may submit up to two (2) works.

• For selection, digital photos submitted must be JPEG or PNG format, between 1MB-5MB in size.

• The image must be of the painting alone, not including the frame or any additional background.

Entry Fee

For non-Guild artists: $65 non-refundable entry fee due for up to two works, due at the time of form completion.

For Guild artists: $55 non-refundable entry fee for up to two works due at the time of form completion. Membership in other arts organizations does not qualify for the Guild rate.

Accepted entries

• No more than one (1) painting per artist will be juried into the exhibition.

• All accepted artists will receive an email from the Exhibitions Manager, Charissa von Harringa, with further instructions and deadlines for delivery, no later than February 3. 

• The delivery window is February 4 - February 24. If delivering by hand, the Exhibitions Manager will call the artist to set up an appointment time. Shipped pieces must be received during this period. Paintings not received by February 24 will be disqualified.

Opening Night Reception & Awards Ceremony

Artists are strongly encouraged to arrive at 3:30pm, the same time as our Friends members, to meet them and have the opportunity to talk about your art. This event is free and open to the public from 4pm-6pm. Awards will be presented at this time, or mailed afterwards.

Questions

Email our Exhibitions Manager, Charissa von Harringa, charissa@fallbrookcenterforthearts.org, or call Fallbrook Art Center, 760-728-1414